this isnt a good idea. just because its for infants doesnt mean its not fun. for instance LBP is a very child friendly game but i enjoyed it alot.also people have different likes despite their age, infact what you are suggesting is hinting on ageism abit.anyway i dont think the game rating are to be worried about (unless ur in AU) as they are constantly being lowered and the limits pushed.the problem ive seen with them is that its not that at an age you can play this game it varies from person to person. ive always thought it should be the parents who decide if their chilren should play a game as they know how mature they are, of course this is flawed as well by stupid/overprotective parents and religous nuts. although this is how it is as parents get children games.

Adamfast:I don't think replacing the rating system entirely with the one suggested would work for everyone, but having some sort of general, age-related recommendation would help more casual videogame buyers. Not everyone who walks into a game shop reads websites, reviews features and the like - it might also flag up games that unsuspecting parents buy for their kids more than the current rating system. A system that everybody pretty much ignores anyway.

I agree.

It's not needed for the sort of gamers that would frequent sites like this but it's amazing the amount of people that will walk into a shop and just pick something on the basis of what the box says.

However I'm not sure if it should be down to censors to determine this but some other sort of board might be useful to help define these things for the newbies to the gaming world.

While i like the idea, from what i see, people dont care about rating... they just care to buy the peace at home by getting the lattest bloodbath/hyped games to their kid.

edit- i like the idea because it isnt based on negativity (watch out, blood and gore ect), like you said in your article, its more positive and based on target audience. Or maybe a combination of both would work best?

Isn't this whole thing just "reviews"? As such, doesn't it just self-regulate when one media outlet praises a game while the next pans it? Maybe some of your categorisations are better served than others, I grant you, but that's more to do with the markets beyond "Juniors" and "Students" still small and developing than anything.

BrotherRool:But you can't put me in a box ( I won't know whether I'm dead or not ^^)

You would, as you'd be able to observe yourself- Shrodinger doesn't know the state of the cat, but the cat's fully aware of it. ;P